Why Your Email Click Rates Look Low in 2025

Why Your Email Click Rates Look Low in 2025, And Why Email Marketing Is Still One of Your Most Profitable Channels

Email marketing is still one of the most powerful revenue drivers in digital marketing. It consistently outperforms social media, paid ads, and content marketing in both ROI and conversion rates. Yet in recent years, more business owners have started asking the same question:

“Why are my email click rates so low? Are people still engaging?”

The truth is yes, they are. In fact, many businesses are seeing better backend results than ever before: more appointments, more online sales, more phone calls, more leads, and more revenue on the exact days emails go out.

So why do email analytics inside Mailmunch, Mailchimp, Keap, Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, and other platforms show such low click rates?

You are about to learn the real reason click tracking has become unreliable, why most people don’t know this is happening, and how GA4 proves that email marketing is still one of your most profitable channels.

Let’s break down the truth behind modern email tracking in 2025.

Email Tracking Has Been Quietly Dying Since 2021

There has been a silent shift in the digital world that most small businesses and even many marketers don’t understand. Email platforms used to track opens and clicks with high accuracy. But today, that tracking is heavily disrupted by privacy controls, mobile devices, security software, and browser updates that are designed to protect users.

Here are the main factors causing email click tracking to appear artificially low:

1. Apple iPhone Privacy Protection

Apple Mail Privacy Protection (AMPP) now blocks:

– Redirect tracking

– Device and IP identifiers

– Link tracking scripts

Over 60 percent of email opens happen on iPhones. This means a huge portion of your audience can click a link and still never be counted.

2. Browser Privacy Stripping

Chrome, Safari, and Firefox now remove tracking parameters like:

– utm_source

– email click IDs

– mm_cid

– mc_eid

– fbclid

– gclid

If a link arrives at your website without these identifiers, your email platform and GA4 cannot properly attribute the source.

3. Security and Antivirus Software

Tools like Norton, Kaspersky, McAfee, VPNs, ad blockers, and even corporate firewalls often block redirect tracking links but still allow the final website to load. These users click, they land on your site, they buy or book an appointment, but the email platform counts zero clicks.

4. Mobile Privacy Browsers

Private mode on iPhone Chrome incognito Brave browser Firefox Focus

Each of these disables tracking scripts and redirect links by default. Again, the click happens, but the tracking is blocked.

5. Link Previews

Apps like the following will sometimes open the URL preview directly, bypassing the email tracking link entirely:

– iMessage

– Gmail

– WhatsApp

– Facebook Messenger

6. Tap and Hold Behaviour

Many users, especially on mobile, tap and hold a link and select:

“Open in new tab”

This bypasses the tracking redirect and gives you the website visit but no click recorded.

So Are People Still Clicking On Emails? Yes. The Tracking Is What’s Broken.

This is the most important concept for business owners to understand:

Email performance is better than ever, but email tracking has become less accurate.

Across all industries, marketers are seeing the same pattern:

– Low reported click-through rates

– Massive spikes in GA4 traffic on the same day

– Significant rises in sales, bookings, or form submissions after campaigns

– Direct traffic surges that align perfectly with email sends

This disconnect is not a performance issue. It is a measurement issue.

How GA4 Reveals the Truth About Email Performance

When someone clicks your email and lands on your website, GA4 tracks the visit at the browser and server level. It does not rely on:

– Tracking pixels

– Redirect URLs

– Email click IDs

– Cookies

– Email parameters

Even if every privacy tool blocks email tracking, GA4 still records the page load.

This is why many businesses see:

GA4 traffic spikes on the exact days emails are sent, even when the email platform shows low clicks.

It means the human behaviour is happening, but the email software cannot see it.

Where Does Email Traffic Get Categorised in GA4?

When privacy systems strip tracking data, GA4 cannot identify the source of the visit. So GA4 falls back to its default categories.

Most email-driven website visits in 2025 are counted as:

1. Direct Traffic (Direct / none)

This is the most common. Even though the user clicked a link, GA4 sees it as a “clean” session with no metadata, so it assumes the visitor typed the URL manually.

2. Unassigned Traffic

Some email visits are marked as “unassigned” if the tracking was partially blocked.

3. Organic Search (rare but possible)

If someone opens your email, then searches your brand name and clicks your Google listing, GA4 attributes this to search even though the email triggered the behaviour.

4. Email (only if tracking survives)

This is becoming less common each year.

This is why businesses who rely only on email platform metrics often underestimate the true ROI and customer engagement that email marketing creates.

Tools like SEMrush Shows the Same Pattern

SEMrush does not have access to your internal email data or UTMs. It relies on external traffic estimation.

So email visits usually fall under:

– Direct

– Other

– Unknown

Again, this does not mean the email did not work. It simply means the traffic arrived without identifiable tracking data.

Why Email Marketing Is Still One of the Most Important Channels in Your Business

Even with modern privacy controls, email is still an incredibly high-performing channel. Here’s why it is still essential for growth:

1. Email drives predictable revenue

Unlike social media, where algorithms control reach, email gives you direct access to your customers and prospects. When you send a broadcast:

– Appointments increase

– Phone calls increase

– Ecommerce Sales increase

– Website traffic increases

The numbers prove it, even if the click tracking doesn’t.

2. Your warmest and most profitable traffic comes from email

Email leads convert higher than:

– Cold Facebook ads

– Organic social content

– SEO traffic

– Google Ads

– Retargeting audiences

These subscribers already know your brand, trust your message, and respond to offers quickly.

3. Email traffic is cheaper and compliments paid ads

As ad costs rise, email remains one of the only channels where:

– You do not pay per click

– You do not pay per impression

– You do not pay per conversion

You own the list.
You control the message.
You control the timing.

4. Email subscribers become long-term customers

Email builds the strongest retention and repeat purchase cycle. It increases:

– Lifetime value

– Frequency of purchases

– Customer loyalty

– Brand trust

Even a single well-crafted email can generate more revenue than weeks of social media posting.

5. Email drives multi-channel impact

A person may receive your email, then:

– Visit your website without clicking

– Google your brand

– Call you directly

– Visit your store

– Click your Google Ads

– Engage with your social media

This is email influencing the customer journey, even if it is not directly attributed.

This hidden influence is one of the reasons email remains the backbone of modern marketing.

Most Businesses Have No Idea This Is Happening

Here is what makes this so important for business owners to understand:

– Most people are unaware that privacy systems block email tracking.

That means most business owners:

– Underestimate email performance

– Believe emails are underperforming

– Think CTR is the full story

– Fail to attribute backend revenue to email

– Continue to run ads without email marketing

Ignore their most powerful asset: their list

Meanwhile, marketers who understand what is happening are seeing incredible results behind the scenes by tracking real-world behaviour, not just email clicks.

The New Way to Measure Email Success in 2025 and Beyond

Because traditional email click tracking is no longer reliable, you need to shift how you measure email performance.

Here is what top-performing brands are doing:

1. Use GA4 and watch for day-of-send traffic spikes

This immediately reveals real engagement.

2. Track backend metrics the same day

Appointments Sales Enquiries Phone calls Checkout starts Add to carts

These correlate with email activity better than CTR.

3. Look for Direct Traffic movement

Most email traffic falls under Direct. If Direct surges on email days, the email worked.

4. Do not rely on click rates

These metrics are outdated due to privacy blocking.

5. Focus on revenue, not vanity metrics

Email ROI is what matters most.

Final Takeaway: Email Marketing Is More Valuable Than It Looks

Email platforms may report lower click rates, but email marketing continues to perform at an elite level. Privacy blockers affect the measurement, not the results. When you combine email sends with GA4 traffic behaviour, backend sales, and customer activity, it becomes obvious that email marketing is still one of the most profitable channels in your business.

Many business owners simply do not understand the shift happening behind the scenes, and as a result, they underestimate the true value of email.

The businesses with the strongest growth in 2025 are the ones who continue to nurture, educate, and engage their database through email, regardless of what the click tracking says.

If you send quality content, helpful advice, relevant offers, and consistent communication, your email list will continue to be one of your most profitable assets.

And yes, even when the click rate says otherwise.

Take the next step, schedule a time to discuss incorporating email marketing as a main marketing channel: https://bubblegummarketing.com/step-2